CommBank Leverages AI to Combat Scams, Reports 76% Drop in Customer Losses

CommBank reports 76% drop in scam losses as new security features rolled out

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community. The new Gen AI pilot enables anyone using the digital identity protection app Truyu - built by CommBank's venture scaling arm x15ventures - to take a screenshot of a suspicious looking SMS, upload it into the app, and get instant analysis from CommBank's Scam Checker tool. Melanie Hayden, managing director at Truyu, says: "Scam Checker uses Gen AI and CommBank scams intelligence - it's a powerful combination. "When you upload a suspicious text to Scam Checker, you're not just protecting yourself. You're also helping keep others safe by sharing valuable information that can be used to help protect them too." Truyu alerts users in near real-time when their identity is used at major merchants - like banks and telcos - or when their personal information is exposed in a data breach. The app then guides them on what to do next. In a second innovation, customers using the CommBank app will now be asked to verify certain online card transactions via the app - before the transaction is authorised, in real-time, reducing the need for one-time passcodes for those transactions. James Roberts, CommBank's general manager of group fraud, says: "Scammers often impersonate legitimate businesses by sending fraudulent text messages to trick customers into following instructions in the message. "We're now asking those customers who use the CommBank app to verify some online card transactions directly in the app instead of sending them a code. We are able to give clearer guidance and warnings in the app than in a text message." The CommBank app uses device recognition adding another layer of protection against account takeover. "Earlier this year CommBank introduced in-app authentication to help stop unauthorised access to a customer's online banking, even if a would-be intruder has obtained the customer's password," says Roberts. "We're now looking at progressively moving other sensitive notifications and actions into the app - such as transaction alerts and security prompts - to enhance customer protections." The new fraud protection features come as the Australian lender reports a 76% drop in customer scam losses since peak (H1 2023). The bank says it is investing $900 million this year to further bolster its cyber defences.

CommBank Adds AI-Powered Scam Detection Tool to Identity Protection App | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. The launch of these assets builds upon earlier solutions that have helped drive a 76% reduction in customers' losses to scams since the first half of 2023, when those losses peaked, according to a Monday (Aug. 11) press release. One new asset is a generative artificial intelligence (AI)-powered scam detection tool called Scam Checker that is incorporated into the digital identity protection app Truyu, which is built by CommBank's venture scaling arm x15ventures, according to the release. The tool allows Truyu users to take a screenshot of a suspicious text, upload it to the app and get instant analysis of whether it is a scam, per the release. "Scam Checker uses Gen AI and CommBank scams intelligence -- it's a powerful combination," Truyu Managing Director Melanie Hayden said in the release. The second new asset deployed by CommBank to combat scams is in the CommBank app and asks customers to verify certain online card transactions before the transaction is authorized, in real time, according to the release. This asset is designed to combat scams that use fraudulent text messages that impersonate legitimate businesses and try to trick customers into following the message's instructions, per the release. "We're now asking those customers who use the CommBank app to verify some online card transactions directly in the app instead of sending them a code," CommBank General Manager of Group Fraud James Roberts said in the release. "We are able to give clearer guidance and warnings in the app than in a text message." These join CommBank's earlier solutions that include the launch of Truyu last year and the addition of in-app authentication to the CommBank app earlier the year, according to the release. CommBank said in June 2023 that it started declining or holding for 24 hours certain payments to cryptocurrency exchanges and would begin limiting customer payments to exchanges for cryptocurrency purchases because of a growing number of scams. The bank said at the time that scammers had been capitalizing on consumers' growing interest in cryptocurrencies.